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July 30, 2016

How much exercise do writers (and other sedentary types) need?

Writers and many other spend much of our days sitting down. We know we need exercise in order to stay healthy, but how much?

Science Daily reports a study from the University of Cambridge that suggests the magic number is 60 minutes of moderate exercise:

"In total, the researchers analysed 16 studies, which included data from more than one million men and women. The team grouped individuals into four quartiles depending on their level of moderate intensity physical activity, ranging from less than 5 minutes per day in the bottom group to over 60 minutes in the top. Moderate intensity exercise was defined as equating to walking at 3.5 miles/hour or cycling at 10 miles/hour, for example.

The researchers found that 60 to 75 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per day were sufficient to eliminate the increased risk of early death associated with sitting for over eight hours per day. However, as many as three out of four people in the study failed to reach this level of daily activity."

The article doesn't reveal how much of the exercise is continuous, as opposed to spread out over the course of the day. For most people, one full hour of exercise may be challenging, but four times fifteen minutes (walking to and from work and shopping, going up and down stairs, as well as using a real or exercise bike, etc.) should be doable.

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Writers and many other spend much of our days sitting down. We know we need exercise in order to stay healthy, but how much?

Science Daily reports a study from the University of Cambridge that suggests the magic number is 60 minutes of moderate exercise:

"In total, the researchers analysed 16 studies, which included data from more than one million men and women. The team grouped individuals into four quartiles depending on their level of moderate intensity physical activity, ranging from less than 5 minutes per day in the bottom group to over 60 minutes in the top. Moderate intensity exercise was defined as equating to walking at 3.5 miles/hour or cycling at 10 miles/hour, for example.

The researchers found that 60 to 75 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per day were sufficient to eliminate the increased risk of early death associated with sitting for over eight hours per day. However, as many as three out of four people in the study failed to reach this level of daily activity."

The article doesn't reveal how much of the exercise is continuous, as opposed to spread out over the course of the day. For most people, one full hour of exercise may be challenging, but four times fifteen minutes (walking to and from work and shopping, going up and down stairs, as well as using a real or exercise bike, etc.) should be doable.